Inside Art

By Carol Vogel

Published: August 4, 2006

At the Pompidou: The Case Of the Fallen Artworks

The Pompidou Center in Paris is under pressure to explain how two artworks were destroyed when they fell off its walls and how another was slightly damaged during a recent exhibition about Los Angeles artists.

One of the works, an untitled wall relief from 1967 made of acrylic lacquer on Plexiglas by the artist Craig Kauffman, had been lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It broke on July 15, two days before the four-month show ended, officials at the Pompidou Center said.

The other, an untitled wall sculpture in cast resin by Peter Alexander from 1971, tumbled off the wall in the middle of the night right before the show opened in March. Resembling a black bar about 8 feet high and 5 inches wide, it was lent by the Franklin Parrasch Gallery in New York.

The damage to the artworks was reported yesterday in The Los Angeles Times.

Roya Nasser, a spokeswoman for the Pompidou, said that when the Kauffman sculpture fell, the molding to which the piece was attached remained on the wall. ''When we installed it, we followed the museum's instructions,'' she said. ''Obviously we're investigating the situation.''

As for the Peter Alexander sculpture, Ms. Nasser said: ''I understand it hadn't been shown in years. We worked closely with the artist and followed his precise instructions.''

In a statement issued yesterday, Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said: ''We are saddened that such a significant work of art in our collection has been destroyed. We have informed the artist and are working closely with the Pompidou to investigate the cause of this accident and to recover the market value of the piece through insurance proceeds.''

Chris Churchill, director of the Franklin Parrasch Gallery, called the incident ''unfortunate.''

''It's a very fragile piece,'' he said of the Alexander sculpture. ''They called us to say it was damaged and that apparently it was an accident. But who can say whether they're telling the truth?''

A third work, an untitled 1960's painting by Robert Irwin that had been lent by Eli Broad, the Los Angeles financier, suffered minor damage and was repaired. The painting was initially hung in a hallway at the Pompidou where there was heavy visitor traffic, said Joanne Heyler, director and chief curator of the Broad Art Foundation, and somehow got a mysterious mark on it.

She said that the Pompidou notified her institution about the incident in an e-mail message. Two days later, Ms. Heyler said, she received a letter of explanation from Alfred Pacquement, the director of the Pompidou Center.

Ms. Heyler said that when she learned of the damage, she had the painting moved under the foundation's supervision to a more conventional gallery space, where there would be less of a risk that a visitor would bump into it. The mark was then removed by a conservator of the foundation's choosing.

The show, ''Los Angeles 1955-1985,'' featuring some 300 works by 80 artists, ran from March 8 through July 17.

Mr. Churchill of the Franklin Parrasch Gallery said the insurance company had already compensated the gallery for Mr. Alexander's sculpture.

Referring to the two wall sculptures, Ms. Nasser of the Pompidou Center said that perhaps it was ''no coincidence that works of the same period were affected.'' She added: ''We do regret this enormously. We are experienced and do look after fragile works of art.''

Klimt and Schiele Nudes

Museums often like to show off their own collections in summer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has managed not only to exhibit a group of its works on paper that are rarely on view because of their fragility but also to capitalize on the popularity of the Neue Galerie's exhibition ''Gustav Klimt: Five Paintings From the Collection of Ferdinand and Adele Bloch-Bauer,'' on view through Sept. 18. On view through Aug. 13 on the Met's mezzanine level of the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing (for Modern and contemporary art) are 21 works on paper by Klimt and Egon Schiele, including 8 pencil drawings by Klimt of nudes, and 13 watercolors and charcoal drawings by Schiele. In the Wallace Wing's first-floor paintings galleries is Klimt's 1912 portrait of M? Primavesi, the daughter of an industrialist.

''It's a very interesting display because one can compare Klimt and Schiele as draftsmen,'' said Gary Tinterow, the Met's curator in charge of 19th-century, Modern and contemporary art.

Schiele comes off as particularly strong, with a large number of female nudes, many quite racy. ''I asked our guards, and so far we haven't had any complaints,'' Mr. Tinterow said. ''Some of them are as graphic as they get. They're very anatomical.''

Dealers' Expansion Plans

With the exception of the annual Art Show every February and some art panels, the Art Dealers Association of America has been a pretty sleepy organization. But that's about to change. On July 1 Roland Augustine, the Chelsea dealer, became the association's president, and for the first time it has appointed an executive director.

She is Linda Blumberg, vice president for communications and marketing at the Central Park Conservancy. Ms. Blumberg, who begins her new job on Sept. 5, will manage the Art Show and the association's appraisal service.

Mr. Augustine also plans to expand the association's initiatives. ''It's time to respond to the growth of the art community,'' he said. Plans include holding panel discussions for collectors in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. In New York future panels will cover ''Understanding and Collecting Contemporary Chinese Art,'' ''The Museum as Collector'' and ''A Guide to Art Fairs.''

People are hungry for this kind of information, Mr. Augustine said. And next year, for the first time, the Art Show and the Armory Show will be held in the same week, so the two events are planning joint marketing.

Photo: ''Mäda Primavesi,'' a 1912 oil portrait by Klimt at the Wallace Wing of the Met. Also on view are 21 works on paper by Klimt and Schiele. (Photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art)